Unforgettable Sin
by JoJo8
Summary: What if Minato and Kushina were resurrected, only to return to the village to find out that their son died 12 years ago? How were they resurrected? And how will they react to the death of their son?
1. Chapter 1: Devastating and Hopeful News

I smiled as my son's smiling face faded from my vision, at least the last thing I see would be my son happy. My vision turned black and I felt myself sinking deeper and deeper, but then I slowly started to be lifted up. Then I stopped, I opened my eyes. I was surrounded by the night sky, I saw something move beside me, I jerked back preparing to defend myself. The figure walked closer to me, the moon light lit up her face, and I could see her red hair flowing down to her back.

"Kushina!" I shouted out in shock. I quickly went closer to her, and checked her injuries, except there weren't any.

"M-Minato? But how? We died! You should've been sealed into Naruto until he goes to eight tails!" Kushina panicked worried the seal didn't work and Naruto would have no one to help him.

"You are here because I brought you here." A soft voice said from behind them. They quickly turned around to see a young woman with long straight black hair. (Like Dark from Cardcaptor Sakura)

"Why did you bring us here? Who are you?" I asked as I cautiously took a small step in front of Kushina.

"My name is Serenity; I am the god and guardian of death. I brought you here because my sister; Aurora the god and guardian of life, and I believe that you are worthy enough of a chance. A chance that very few are presented with, a chance even fewer are able to fully receive."

"May I ask what this chance you speak of is?" Kushina asked politely. The god smiled softly at her show of respect.

"It is a chance to return to the lives you once had." Kushina and I looked at her, unable to believe what we were hearing. There was actually a chance for us to return to Naruto and have the life we had dreamed of. "But though my sister and I believe you are worthy, we are forbidden to return a life for it will disrupt the balance."

"What do we have to do?" I looked straight at her, determined to return to my son.

"You must complete a quest in the world of the elemental gods. On this quest you will have to collect ten elemental objects, five of these objects are staffs, and the other five are jewels. The jewels are kept and protected by the elemental god that created them. To gain possession of this jewel, you will have to meet with the god and pass the trials they command you to do. Once you have passed their trial they will then give you the jewel and the location of their elemental staff. But on this quest you will not have your shinobi abilities, and both the elemental gods and I are forbidden to help you anymore than required. You will have to rely on your own human abilities and gain information through the people of this world."

Kunshina and I nodded in understanding, then without another word she sent us to the world of the elemental gods.

~*~*~16 years later~*~*~

Hizuren (the third hokage), Jiraya and Tsunade stood on top of the hokage monuments, their expressions angered but their eyes filled with sorrow as tears fell endlessly from their eyes.

They were staring at the villagers preparing for their evening celebrations; celebrating the death of the demon child. They clenched their fists in anger, blood oozing out from their hands.

"Once again on this night they will make more sins by celebrating their gravest sin known." Jiraya said angrily.

"For how long will they celebrate their crime 12 years ago?" Hizuren asked to no one.

They looked down remembering the night they had failed Minato and Kushina.

_(Flashback)_

_Hizuren and Kakashi, along with some other jounins and ANBUs (Kurenei, Asuma, Anko, Itachi, Uzuki Yuuago) followed the eagle as fast as they can to the underground training grounds (I don't know if there are any underground training grounds in konoha but just pretend that there were). _

_In the middle of the grounds they found Naruto badly injured, his injuries from the past couldn't even compare to his injuries now. Hizuren hastily picked him up carefully and they quickly brought him to the Tsunade's house so she could heal him. On the way Kakashi and Kurenei kept trying to wake him up but it didn't work._

_When they arrived Tsunade looked in shock at the boy they were carrying. She quickly told them to place him carefully on the table. A small tear fell from her eye while she tried to stay strong as she examined him and checked his vitals._

"_Judging from his injuries, I would say that they had beaten and drowned him in water twice, before they covered him in oil and burned him alive." Tsunade carefully leaned her head on his chest and listened to his heartbeat. She could hear his heart beats grow more faintly before it stopped._

_Her eyes widen once she heard it stop, she lifted up her head as her tears fell endlessly from her eyes. Her knees buckled as shock of losing another precious person flowed through her mind. _

_Kakashi, Hizuren and the others all cried silently except for Kurenei as she cried onto Asuma's chest. He patted her head comfortingly but couldn't stop his body shaking from the anger he was holding back._

"_What did he ever do to them? They will pay for what they've done!" Tsunade shouted as she quickly ran angrily out the door. All of them rushed after her, leaving Naruto alone._

_When they came back his body was nowhere to be found. _

_The next day Jiraya came back to the village after going out to buy his present for Naruto. Jiraya was about to tear at the villagers, when he remembered that his pupil had sacrificed his life to save the village._

_(Flash back) _

Tsunade cursed remembering her failure to the young boy she had promised to always protect.

"I don't see the point of making me hokage if I can't even stop this village from destroying itself!" she looked back up at the villagers, disgust shown on her face.

"There's nothing you can do, Tsunade. No matter what, those stupid heartless old goats will never change the condition." Jiraya said glaring in front of him.

"Gomen Tsunade, if I hadn't stepped down, you wouldn't be in this position."

"I don't blame you, besides it was Jiraya and I who convinced you to step down. The duty of hokage is too stressful for someone your age. Anyway the one I'm angry at are those old advisors and Danzo. For Danzo to step down from his candidate position, I was forbidden to interfere with the celebrations on this day." Tsunade sighed.

"Tsunade, I will be taking my usual day leave for today. If you need me I'll be in the town north of the village." Hizuren informed Tsunade as he disappeared.

"I need to complete some more paperwork."

"I'll accompany you, and then I'll have to leave the village to search for some more information on Ochimaru." Tsunade nodded as she and Jiraya made their way to the hokage tower.

Unknown to them, that two familiar figures had just arrived at konoha's gates.

"Kushina I think it's better if we disguise ourselves so we don't attract any unnecessary attention." Kushina nodded then they both made a hand sign and transformed themselves.

Minato disguised himself as a young male adult with black hair and blue eyes. Kushina disguised herself as a young female adult with cropped brown hair and green eyes.

They made their way to the hokage office, not noticing the addition on the hokage monument. They knocked on the door, while Jiraya was giving his opinion to Tsunade about one of the new genin team reports.

"Enter!" she shouted so that the person could hear her from the other side. Minato and Kushina entered, still wearing their disguises.

Jiraya looked at them strangely, feeling a sense of familiarity from the two strangers.

"May I ask who you are and why are you here?" Tsunade said politely.

"I never expected for you to return, let alone become the next hokage, Tsunade-hime." Minato smiled at her, they both undid their jutsu. Jiraya and Tsunade looked at them in shock, unable to believe what they were seeing. "It just goes to show, how much things can change overtime."

"M-Minato." Jiraya stuttered out.

"K-Kushina." She stuttered out almost at the same time as Jiraya. Kushina smiled at her and bowed.

"It's been a long time, Tsunade- sama."

Tsunade and Jiraya grabbed them in a bone crushing hug, tears streaming down their faces,

"Baka! Don't you know it's bad to make the elderly cry too much?" Jiraya shouted at Minato, him still in the hug.

"Haha, really I didn't know that, gomen." Minato smiled and patted his back comfortingly.

"He just made that up, but don't you dare to ever do that again." Minato and Kushina chuckled at their sensei s. Tsunade and Jiraya finally let them go.

"So where's Naruto?" Kushina smiled at them, they looked at each other, pained.

"Why don't you meet with Hizuren- sensei first." Minato and Kushina felt confused but were too tired to argue.

After they had their little reunion, Kushina asked them again. Hizuren took a glance at Jiraya and Tsunade. He looked down; a tear fell from his eye. After a few minutes of silence, he turned around facing the open window.

"Follow me." He said as he leaped out of the window. They followed him outside of Konoha, to the middle of the north western forest. They stood in front of a tree, Hizuren placed his right hand on the tree and made a hand seal.

"Kai!" he shouted, then a seal appeared out of the smoke. "Hold on to me." They did as he said, as he made some hand seals, then touched the seal.

When they opened their eyes, they stood in front of a grave on top of a snowy mountain. On the grave it had engraved writing,

'**Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze,**

**Died at four years old.'**

(I know they don't really put down the age, but I couldn't be bothered looking up the year)

Word engraved concrete surrounded the grave, telling the story of his short life. Kushina cried reading the name on the grave, she leaned her head on Minato's chest and sobbed loudly.

"We believe that he had deserved so much better than to be buried in the grounds of the people that killed him. We buried him here because he always said to us how much he loved the snow as much as the moon." Hizuren said sadly, Minato turned to him while still comforting Kushina.

"The villagers did this to him? Why? What did he ever do to them!" Kushina shouted at Hizuren.

"What happened to our son?" Minato said trying to control his anger.

"On this grave it will tell you everything you need to know. From the day he was born to the day he died." He replied. They read the engraved words, their faces turned from pained to angered.

"By the time we had finished mourning him, there was no more trace of them." Minato and Kushina broke down on the ground mourning their son. Minato kept beating the snow covered ground, and cursed himself for doing this to his son.

They return to the village, without a single word to each other. Minato couldn't completely blame the villagers, because he believed that if he hadn't sealed the fox, this wouldn't have happened.

After a month Minato re- announced himself as hokage, but was still unable to interfere with the death celebrations.

~*~*~ Two months later ~*~*~

Minato was in his office with Kushina helping him sort out his paperwork. There was a knock on the door.

"Enter." Minato shouted, Hizuren entered the room. "Sensei, what's wrong? By the way Happy Birthday." (Idk what he calls the third so I just used sensei)

"Thank you, now I would like you and Kushina to follow me, there is something I have to show you."

They followed him to the top of the hokage monument.

"On Naruto's first birthday, I gave him a young baby eagle. We named him Hinazuto (for any of yous who didn't notice it's a combination of Hizuren and Naruto). We raised and trained Hinazuto, and every year on his birthday I would send a handmade present to Naruto using Hinazuto. And every year Naruto would do the same, after the incident I felt certain that wouldn't happen again." Minato and Kushina looked at him confused at where he was going with this.

"But it did, when Tsunade announce him to us, dead. She was about to rampage in the village, we had all come out to stop her, leaving Naruto alone for only a few hours. When we came back his body had disappeared, we tried to find him but we would always reach a dead end." He was about to continue until he heard the cry of an eagle. They turned to see the bird drop something to Hizuren and land on his shoulder.

They looked at the item, it was a wrapped box with a card stuck to it, saying; Happy Birthday! Hizuren opened the box, inside it had a silver ring with a red jewel in the middle of it. Engraved on the ring said 'Will of Fire'.

Hizuren showed it to Minato and Kushina, a tear fell from her eyes from happiness, that there might be a possibility that her child was alive.

"Why didn't you tell us this?" Kushina asked Hizuren.

"I didn't want you to get your hopes up, just after you found out his death. And all of our best tracking team and specialist couldn't find him."

"Why don't you use the bird to find him?" Minato asked, looking at the bird glare at him, when he tried to pet him.

"Hinazuto will only answer to me and Naruto, even though he has a loyalty to me, his first loyalty belongs to Naruto. No matter what he will never lead nor help us find Naruto, if he has commanded him not to." Minato nodded in understanding.

Authors note:

Hey guys this is my first fanfic and I would really appreciate it if you would give me your opinions on the story thus far.

If it's something harsh or strict, please go easy on me

JoJo8


	2. Chapter 2: Preparation for a Battle

"Yondaime- sama!" a chunin in charge of the messenger birds called to Minato. The three of them turned to the man.

"What's wrong?" Minato said feeling a sense of urgency.

"The rouge group called Akatsuki has declared war on the hidden sand village! They are asking for our assistance."

"Minato, they must be after Shubaku no Garra, their kazekage." Hizuren informed him, he nodded.

"Get me a list of all the available ninjas in the village, including the medical nin." The chunin nodded before running off. He then turned to Kushina.

"Kushina, you and I will also be going to help them. Hizuren can you fill in for me, I will be taking Jiraya and Tsunade with the teams going." They both nodded, Hizuren went to tell Jiraya and Tsunade. Kushina went to prepare her and Minato's things, while Minato went to his office to decide the teams.

~*~*~ Two hours later~*~*~

Eight four man cells were chosen to go to the hidden sand village. Those chosen were, Jiraya, Tsunade, Kushina Minato, Itatchi, Kakashi, Yamato, Kurenei, Asuma, Yuuago, Anko, Sasuke, Sakura, Sai, Kiba, Shino, Hinata, Ino, Shikamaru, Chouji, the first Ino-Shika-Chou team, and some other chunins and medical nin. (the Uchiha massacre didn't happen)

When they arrived, the kazekage greeted and thanked them.

"Welcome, and thank you for coming to assist us in this battle. The battle has been declared to be in one month time, we hope that you will be able to help us prepare before that time." He went and shook Minato's hand.

"We, konoha, will always help an ally in need. Just tell us what you need help for in this battle, and I assure you that our ninjas will be more than capable in completing the task." Some of the sand ninjas slightly narrowed their eyes while the rest of them kept their faces calm.

"There is actually a task that I will need your ninjas for. You see all of the sand ninjas are either out completing missions or in the village preparing for the battle. The task I need done is one that is out of our country border."

"What is this task?"

"Akatsuki is a group of high ranked ninjas; I don't like taking chances with my village while knowing that there is a way to get an advantage."

"Advantage?" Jiraya asked.

"There is another Jinchuuriki in the hidden stone village. He is currently going through training to control his bijuu. I have already sent the request the stone's raikage, he has agreed on the terms that some of his men will be going with him and I needed the approval of a certain man."

"May I ask if you already know that there is such a way to control your bijuu, why haven't you, yourself tried to undergo the training?" Tsunade asked Garra.

"To undergo this training, you will have to seek the man named Makikaze Kasai. He is the one training the eight tails jinchuuriki, and the one I needed to seek approval from." The konoha ninja looked at him confused, what was so important about this man? "I expect that Jiraya-san would have heard of this man." Garra added noticing their confused looks. Everybody looked at Jiraya.

"Makikaze Kasai, the man of the hidden face, he has a very strong henge that is almost undetectable, there are only a few people that have seen his true face. But like him they are practically untraceable, no one has been able to find them. The only way someone can meet any of them is if they come to you. Makikaze Kasai is the name he is known by in the Five great nations. Lots of people have heard of him by different names. He is also known as the Heiwa No Kami (the god of peace), he has created peace between the four great nations and in villages all over the world. And if I'm correct, he was also the one who gave you a new seal so you could control Shukaku." Jiraya explained.

"Yes that is correct; the seal gives me a small amount of control over Shukaku. But it does not give me complete control."

"So you wish for us to send a team to escort the eight tails from kumo, so that he may assist you in the battle." Minato clarified, Garra nodded.

"Here is the scroll that you will need to give to the raikage, for proof." Garra handed Minato the scroll. He nodded.

"Jiraya! Itatchi! Kushina! Kurenei!" Minato called, the four stepped out. "Itatchi will be the leader for this mission since he is an expert in escort missions." He added handing the scroll to Itatchi. As he stepped forward to take the scroll Minato whispered in his ear. "Take care of Kushina."

Itatchi replied by slightly nodding before he and his team disappeared.

"The rest of you will be helping the sand prepare and train for the upcoming battle. Tsunade and the medical nin, I will need you to work with their medical staff. Shikaku you will stay with me, as my advisor." The rest nodded and followed the sand ninjas that led them. Minato and Shikaku followed Garra and his advisors (Temari and Kankuro) to discuss battle strategies.

*~*Team Itatchi*~*

It took them four days to reach kumo, when they arrived they presented the scroll to the guards. They then led them to the raikage and handed him the scroll.

"Where's Bee?" the raikage asked his secretary.

"Bee-sama is doing his Bijuu training with Mizuko – sama and Kori-sama, in training ground three." The raikage nodded and turned back to them. "Omoi!" he called, then a tanned guy with his spiky hair held back by his forehead protector. "They are here to escort Bee to the sunagakure. I need you to lead them to training ground three. Just follow Omoi, he will lead you to Bee."

"Thank you Raikage-sama." Team Itatchi bowed and followed Omoi out.

"Can I ask you something?" Kurenei asked Omoi as they were jumping on the rooftops. He simply nodded.

"We were told that Kumo's eight tails wa being trained by Makikaze Kasai, so who is this Mizuko-sama and Kori-sama, the raikage's secretary mentioned."

"Kasai-sama left for Dog country three months ago to prevent the civil war between Dog and Goat country. (I just made these countries up) He was then planning to observe the actions of the nearby countries. Kasai-sama left Mizuko-sama and Kori-sama to continue Bee-sama's training."

"What's their relationship with Makikaze Kasai?" Kushina asked intrigued by the man.

"Mizuko-sama is Kasai-sama's lover, Kori-sama is Mizuko-sama's younger brother. They told us that they've been together since they were young."

"Have you ever seen the man fight?" Itatchi asked joining the conversation.

"Kind of, when he was first testing Bee-sama's power and skills. Boy, I still remember the looks on everyone's faces. Bee-sama, who is rumoured to be equal to our Raikage, was giving his all against a sixteen year old boy, but didn't even make a single scratch on him. Kasai-sama was practically just toying with him, like how someone would with a child." All of them felt shocked hearing his age.

"Makikaze Kasai, who is feared and adored as the god of peace, is just a sixteen year old boy?" Jiraya asked not believing what he just heard. He nodded.

"When he first approached the Raikage, the Raikage was about to kick him out of the village, until he demonstrated his most famous technique. The Go genso doragon (five elemental dragons)."

"Go genso doragon?" Kushina asked looking at Omoi, then turned to Jiraya.

"The Go genso doragon, the name is pretty self explanatory. Like other elemental techniques, the element goes into the form of a dragon and attacks the opponent. This technique can be practically applied to any element except for wind. What's so special about Makikaze Kasai's technique is, not only can it form the wind into the form of a dragon. But it uses the five elements to simultaneously form five dragons, lighting, earth, wind, water and fire. It has been rumoured that he had once formed the five dragons together to form one dragon. The technique was called the Doragon go-ko (five element dragon)."

"The technique was truly extraordinary, even that doesn't cover it. The technique was simply indescribable."

They arrived a few minutes later, in the middle of the training ground was a tanned man sitting cross legged with his eyes closed. While a blue haired girl, and a younger white haired boy, cautiously watched him. There was also a few chunins watching the man with interest.

They dropped down from the tree they were on, and walked over to the group.

"Mizuko-sama, Kori-sama." Omoi bowed to the two, the girl turned to him.

"Omoi, are they the ones here to escort Bee?" Mizuko asked.

"Yes, Mizuko-sama." Mizuko walked over to them, Itatchi walked up and shook her hand.

"I'm Itatchi, this is my team. Kurenei, Kushina and Jiraya." Itatchi said gesturing to each of them. Mizuko felt that Kushina looked familiar but ignored it.

"My name is Nagare Mizuko, this is my younger brother Kori." She said gesturing behind her to Kori.

"Mizuko-nee (means sister) he did it." He said not turning to look at them. They felt confused at what he said, and then suddenly Bee jumped up.

"Oh Yeah Baby!" He shouted putting his arms up. Team Itatchi felt more confused at what was happening. Mizuko turned around to face Bee and Kori.

"Good job Bee, your escorts are here, go and get your things. We'll continue some more of your training on the way to the sunagakure. Kori go get our bags from the house." They both nodded and went off. When she turned around, she finally noticed the symbol on their forehead protectors.

Her expression at first shocked, then became angered. Omoi then felt scared, seeing her expression.

"Omoi, where's the raikage?" she asked, trying to keep calm. Omoi didn't know whether to tell her or not. "Don't worry I won't kill or hurt him." she said calming down, after noticing his expression, Omoi relaxed.

"He's in his office."

"Omoi lead them to the North gate, we'll meet you there in ten minutes. I expect you to have your things ready." Omoi looked at her surprised, but then quickly nodded. Mizuko then headed for the Raikage's office.

*~*Mizuko Pov*~*

I knocked the door down, and entered his office. My expression angered. How could he not inform us of this?

He looked surprised at my entrance.

"Is anything the matter Mizuko-sama?" he asked trying to play dumb, this made me angrier.

"Don't you dare pull that acting dumb crap! How could you not tell us that Konoha was helping the Sunagakure!"

"When I had discovered the fact, you and Kori- sama were too busy training Bee." I scoffed.

"It will be your fault when he discovers this too late, and decides to no longer help the Sand in this battle. The fall of the Sunagakure will fall because of you, but then again you wouldn't care."

"I'm pretty sure that, that won't be the case."

"Really, enlighten me."

"By now I'm certain that he has heard about the fourth hokage and his wife being resurrected." Mizuko felt shocked (this is the first time she's heard about it because she was too busy training Bee) but didn't show it. "Seeing his wife on one of the teams, helping the sand. I suspect that he is also in the Sand to help them for the upcoming battle." Mizuko then remembered why she felt that, the woman felt familiar.

"I wouldn't be so certain. When it comes to that subject, he can be incomparably unpredictable."

"If I were in his position I would want to see the couple, who abandoned that little boy."

"We will just have to wait and see his decision. Now won't we?" she said quietly before heading off to the North gate.

*~*Team Itatchi*~*

Everyone has already gathered at the north gate, just waiting for Mizuko.

There were going to be four other chunins accompanying them, excluding Omoi. (Mizuko and Kori don't belong to a village so they aren't counted) After a few minute Mizuko finally arrived.

Kori looked at her with a calm expression but anger in his eyes. She told Kori what the Raikage told her but in code. He nodded and then glared at Kushina.

Mizuko walked to the front of the group with Kori following after her.

"How much time do we have until the battle?" She asked Itatchi.

"We only have twenty five days left." She turned to Kori, he nodded in agreement.

"Alright, since we don't have much time. I want all of you to hold on to either Kori or I. Or you can just hold on to someone linked to us. Just be sure that you are linked." Everyone did as they were told. Team Itatchi felt confused but did it.

Once everyone was all linked, Mizuko and Kori simultaneously did some hand seals. Then they all disappeared within a big cloud of smoke.

Author's note:

Just to clarify Kasai met Naruto near the outskirts of Konoha. Naruto wanted at least one person outside of konoha to know the true story of his death. Instead of whatever crap he thought the villagers were going to make up.

Mizuko and Kori are one of the few people who know Kasai's real past, face and name. They aren't as powerful as Kasai but are at least half as powerful as he is.

To see what Mizuko, Kori and Kasai looks like, just check out the links on my profile.

And I would like to say a big THANK YOU to the three people who has read and reviewed my story, and THANK YOU for your comments.

Lastly I would just like to mention again that I won't mind any criticism as long as it isn't too harsh or mean.

Thank you for reading this chapter.

JoJo8


	3. Chapter 3: Hatred for Konoha

**Authors note:**

**I would first like to say thank you again to the people who reviewed and put my story on story alert. **

**But I must say that the comments I got from Anonymous was very harsh and discouraging. Though I said that I would like some criticism, I did ask for you to be not too harsh seeing as it is my first story. But those comments I would say is the opposite of what I had requested.**

**I would just like to point out to the person (in case they ever read this) who wrote those comments things they obviously thought out wrong:**

**Yes it is true that things like gods and guardians aren't mentioned much in Naruto. But isn't that the whole point of fanfiction. Fanfiction is a website where creative amateur writers can write and show people what they think would happen if some things were different. **

**I didn't spend too much time on Minato's and Kushina's quest because I didn't want to get sidetracked and I am planning to make a separate story for their quest, after finishing this story.**

**If you had read the story properly you would notice that the reason Jiraya didn't attack the villagers was because Minato and Kushina gave their lives, and did something to their son that they wouldn't have chosen to do if they weren't in their situation, to save the village and its people. Of course the third coming to this conclusion earlier and used the reason to calm Tsunade down. So basically they didn't attack the village because they had respected and cared a lot about Minato and Kushina's wishes.**

**If you hadn't noticed the place where they buried Naruto, you can come to the conclusion that it was probably a private funeral. And if you didn't come to this conclusion, think why would the villagers care to go to the funeral of the person they hated (they held such a deep grudge against, that they even tortured and murdered)**

**They had only started looking for the people after their time of mourning him. Because they cared for Naruto so much that they could only think about it afterwards. And because of the shock of Naruto's death, the two senin believed that it was already too much for the third. So Tsunade decided to become his new successor but Danzo also wanted the position, they couldn't have Danzo become hokage so they made a deal with him and the advisors that they wouldn't interfere with the Demon death celebration. In exchange for Tsunade to become hokage.**

**For this last one, I will admit that I forgot to write in the fact, that only a handful of ANBUs were told of Naruto's heritage. So the ANBUs protecting him at the time couldn't be bothered with it and joined the celebrations instead of protecting him.**

**Now on with the story….**

When they opened their eyes, they stood in front of the sunagakure's southern gate, surprising both the Sand and Leaf ninjas guarding the gate.

"Omoi and Karui (just remembered her and wanted to add her to the story), come with me. The rest of you, find something useful to help with." Mizuko addressed the Kumo nins. They all nodded at her instructions and disappeared off into the village.

Mizuko gestured for the rest of them to follow her. She walked into the council room, pushed open both of the double doors, causing them to hit the wall loudly.

Minato and Garra were intruded out of their discussion, by her loud entrance.

Omoi, Karui and Team Itatchi bowed in respect to the two kages, they nodded. Then Garra and the sand nin did a low bow, in respect to Mizuko and Kori.

"Mizuko-sama, Kori-sama. It has been a long time and the sand is once again grateful and in your debt." Garra greeted politely, Minato and Team Itatchi felt shocked at the amount of respect shown to the two.

"Garra, we as always will accept your gratitude. But you and your village have no debt to us, as long as you have been following the peace contracts we have established between the four great nations and neighbouring countries." Kori replied.

"Though you feel that Kori-sama, we can't help but feel we have a debt to you that still needs to be repaid." Kankuro replied casually, lighting the atmosphere. Kori smirked at the way he was formally addressed by him.

"Maybe, it will lighten the debt you feel, if you actually listen to us first." He said playfully. Kankuro smiled back, they walked to each other, and gave each other a guy hug.

"I thought you got cold on us." Kankuro and Temari smiled. Kori walked to Temari and gave her a hug. Minato and Team Itachi felt confused, seeing the sudden change of atmosphere.

"It's nice to see that you haven't changed a bit Mizuko-sama." Garra said to Mizuko casually, while the three continued their own conversation.

"Same here."

"Is Kasai-sama going to be arriving to help with the battle?" Garra asked hoping she would say yes.

"I don't know, you know almost as well as I that he is the most unpredictable, when it comes to this topic. If he will be assisting you in this battle, it is most likely that he will arrive tomorrow."

"I see, I will have some of my men prepare for his arrival. For the sake of my village and for my own, I hope to see his arrival."

"Garra instead of preparing men for his arrival, I suggest you prepare an explanation. Why you hadn't informed us of their involvement." Mizuko replied, slightly gesturing to the leaf nin. Who were just watching their interactions with confusion.

"Of course." Garra bowed, noticing her slight gesture. Mizuko then stepped aside and gestured Bee forward.

"Yo! So you're the one tails, the name's Bee. Nice to meet cha!" (I'm don't really get Bee's rap rhythm, so I might sound stupid or just write normally) Bee extended his fist to Garra.

"I'm Garra, nice to meet you. And thank you for coming to assist us." Garra bumped his fist against Bee's. Then suddenly both his and Bee's past started to flash in his mind. Garra's eyes widened, seeing Bee's past. He looked to Bee, wondering what just happened.

"That was part of our connection as jinchuuriki s. Heh, Kasai-sama really is amazing. He saved us both!" Bee smiled at Garra, remembering how Kasai saved him from his inner darkness. Garra smiled back at him. Bee noticed the fourth hokage behind and greeted him.

"It is nice to see you too Bee-san." Minato greeted back.

"Yo, that's cool! You come back from the dead, like nothing's changed! Hopefully Kasai-sama doesn't hold a grudge on you for what happened to that boy he told us about! I remember that story, the story of the boy that goes Dattebayo!"

Kurenei, Itachi and Jiraya all focused their sight on Bee, surprised by what he just said. A second later, Minato and Kushina then focused their eyes to Bee. After remembering Kushina's speaking habits did they realize, the boy must be Naruto.

"Bee." Kori and Mizuko said at the same time, in a warning tone. Bee quickly shut his mouth, seeing their expressions.

"If you want to know something about Kasai, you will have to find out from him." Mizuko said, just as Jiraya opened his mouth to say something.

"Isn't there anything you can tell us at all?" Kurenei pleaded. Kori looked to his sister, hiding his emotions, Mizuko sighed slightly.

"That boy is part of our reasons for despising Konoha." With that Mizuko left with Bee, Omoi and Karui following after her.

"What did she mean? What does Konoha have to do with this?" Kushina asked Kori, just as he was about to leave. He turned to face her.

"Makikaze Kasai, has kept peace between the four great nations for five years. It only took him three years to create that peace, yet during the five years of peace. He has made no move to help Konoha. The question is why?" He said before following after his sister, leaving the leaf ninjas in thought and slight confusion.

Garra thought that it was best to leave them, to their thoughts. He excused himself from the room, then the rest of the sand nin did the same.

"Wait!" Kushina called after Garra just before he was about to go through the door. "You must know something. Can't you tell us anything?" she pleaded.

"I'm sorry but I am can't tell you anything." He then left the room, without another word.

A few minutes later, they decided to tell the others.

"What are you sure, you heard him correctly?" Tsunade asked them, hoping what they said was true.

"Yes, but they won't give us any information about it. They said that the only way we can know, is to ask Kasai himself." Itachi replied. After some discussion, they went to bed. Wondering about what will happen the following day.

*~*The top of the Sand's walls*~*

In the dark night, under the shining moon, stood a man with a wolf standing by his side. The man stared at the village that would soon become a deadly battle field. He sighed, his wolf companion turned to him.

"Ran-chan, you knew that the peace, you created wouldn't last forever. This battle has been predicted to happen for a long time now." The wolf spoke understandingly to the man. He looked at his companion, then back at the village.

"I know Tento, but did it have to involve the village I despised the most."

"Ran-chan, the only way you can create long lasting peace, is to make peace with everyone. Your unwavering ignorance towards that village, is the downfall of the peace you create." The man stayed silent, Tento sighed.

"Come on, I have to get back to Mizuko and Kori." The man did some hand seals, his appearance changed. He had black hair with red highlights, and red eyes (picture link on profile). Tento looked at the man, and remembered his many achievements. He felt enormous pride towards the man, and what he has become.

"Hai, Sai-chan." He looked to his companion, and nodded. They set off towards the village.

~*~*~The Next Morning~*~*~

Garra, his advisors, some sand nin and all of the leaf nin, were all in the council room. Waiting for the appearance of Makikaze Kasai, Garra had received word from some of his nin. That he had arrived late last night.

The doors flew open, Makikaze Kasai walked in. With Mizuko, Kori, Bee, the kumo nin following not far after. And five wolves walked proudly at his side.

Everyone except the leaf nin, bowed in respect.

"Welcome Kasai-sama, we as always are grateful for you assistance." Garra greeted him. He simply nodded in return. "Kasai-sama my reasons fo-"

"I can understand your decision without your explanations. Give me a list of all of the available ninjas in the village." He interrupted Garra, not wanting to waste too much time. "I want all of your ninjas training. Maru, Kinko, Genjou and Hyoki can handle guarding and preparations." He slightly gestured to the four wolves beside him.

"Of course, the list is just in my office." Kasai nodded.

"Bee I want you to continue your training with Mizuko. Omoi, Karui, I'm leaving you with Bee. The rest of you, I want you training for the battle." They nodded. "You guys can go find something useful to do, just don't get in anyone's way." He said turning to the leaf nin.

They had felt offended at his words, even more when no one else had said anything about it. Garra just ignored it and gestured for Kasai to follow him.

"Hey, wait!" Ino called after Kasai, he turned to her. "Where on earth do you think, that you can just talk to us like that!" She shouted at him. His face hardened, he glared at her.

"Since when did you think, that you may even speak to me?" he replied in a cold tone, making Ino shiver.

"What's your problem? What do you have against Konoha?" she shouted at him, not backing down. Inochi placed a hand on his daughter, pulling her back.

"I, whom am known as the Heiwa no Kami, have created peace between the four great nations. That peace has lasted for five happy years, even to today the peace I created between them, still lasts. Yet I have made no move to include Konoha in that peace, why do you think that is?" he paused.

"Because Konoha will only bring destruction to that peace. Your village only breeds hatred and chaos. Your entire village only bring evil to this world, I was fortunate to know of its evil before I could be fooled again."

"What do you mean again?" Minato asked, he stared at him for a few seconds before answering.

"I had first learnt of your village's evil, when I was only a young boy. I was wondering around the forest, when I saw a boy of my age. Lying on the ground badly hurt. I was about to go get help, when he asked me to stay. He begged me to listen to his story; he told me the villagers from Konoha had done that to him. He told me was about, how much he had wanted to get along with them. The last thing he told me was how he was afraid to be forgotten by the handful of people, he had loved dearly." Kushina had tears running down her eyes, hearing about her son. Minato and Jiraya were thinking about Hizuren's theory.

"One year before I headed to the hidden mist village, I went to Konoha. I wanted to give Konoha another chance, to be a part of the peace I was going to create. So I observed Konoha for a year, I had concluded that you were worthy of that peace, until I saw them celebrating the death of that boy, to even label him as a demon. Even then I felt that Konoha still had some worth, but then I overheard the village elders commanding a man to slaughter his own clan, only leaving his only brother." He looked at Itachi, itachi looked at him carefully. His eyes then widened.

"You, you're that boy from that night." Itachi said softly, recognizing him from the night, he was supposed to kill his own clan.

"Yes, I am. After I had heard that, I saw a vision of what would've happened if you had completed your task. That boy." He pointed to Sasuke. "Would've fallen to dark future, he would seek you for revenge. Then he would find out the truth, only to go on another vengeful road towards Konoha. His future would've only been fuelled by hatred and revenge; his only motive would've been only to seek revenge and darkness." They all looked at Sasuke and Itachi. Everyone stayed silent for a few minutes, trying to take in everything they just heard.

"You asked me, what do I have against Konoha. Then I will ask you, what I shouldn't have against Konoha? They totured and brutally murdered a four year old boy, who had done nothing against them. Then they celebrate his death, labelling him as a demon child. To make things worse they command a kind man, who only wanted to do what was best for his village. They command that man to kill his own clan, his own father, his own mother, his own lover. Only to leave behind his younger brother, to be used for their own purposes." They stayed silent, he was about to leave, but stopped to say one more thing.

"Yondaime." Minato looked up at Kasai. "That boy, Naruto, he knew about the monster you sealed into him. He knew that the villagers kept hurting him because of that monster. But he looked up to you, he had put you as his goal. He wanted to become like you, and wanted to surpass you." a tear fell from Minato's eye, Kasai then left them to their thoughts.

That day all of the leaf nin, had been thinking about Kasai had said to them.

At night Jiraya wanted to know more about what happened that night, with Kasai and Itachi.

"That night I was prepared to do what was best for the village, no matter how it hurts me. As I was heading for the Uchiha domain, I saw a young boy standing on top of a lamp post. His hair and eyes were different that night, but I memorized his face. That night he had silver hair and eyes that lit up under the full moon." Itachi paused remembering how he had felt so amazed by the boy. The boy had shown him nothing, but he just couldn't help but feel amazed by his presence.

"'**I have taken care of what needs to be done. This will be the only time I will help your village, do not waste my benevolence. I will warn you, if your village continues on this path. It will only bring chaos and destruction, to not only your village but also the world.'** Was the only thing he said to me, and then he just disappeared within a blink of an eye. The next day the Uchiha council had gathered, usually they would talk about how they can slowly take over the village. But the topic didn't even come up until I brought it up. They just laughed at the idea, and suggested that I should take a break from my duties. Because I was probably too stressed out, to even think about such an idea."

Minato and Jiraya thought about Kasai's warning to Itachi. They both decided that they needed to change the elders' power over the village.

That night all of the leaf nin, couldn't sleep. Kasai's words played itself over and over again in their heads. But a few of them still had felt no guilt towards Naruto.

Author's note:

I hope you guys liked this chapter. I'm sorry for my words at the start.

If you guys have any request on what you might want in the story, I'm happy to consider them!  
>I know I say this too many times, but really thank you to those people who have been reading and reviewing my story.<p>

And please remember that if you are going to say something harsh or strict, please say it kindly and please take it easy on me.

Thank you for reading this chapter.

JoJo8


	4. Chapter 4: Consequences of his Mistake

The next morning they had an early briefing for the battle. But Kasai, Mizuko and Kori were nowhere to be found during the meeting. After the meeting they had to get prepared for training.

Kushina decided to try and look for Kasai before heading off to the training grounds. She was determined to ask him more about Naruto and tell him about the third's theory.

Just when she was about to give up, she looked up and saw him standing on top of a tree (it's near the sands' greenhouse). A sad look in his eyes but his face expressionless and stiff.

He put a leaf to his mouth, and whistled out a soft tune. The tune sounded like it was trying to warn something. Once he heard the cry of a hawk in the distance, he stopped and just stood there.

Kushina became more interested, hearing the cry of a hawk. She slowly went up by one more branch to get closer.

"Namikaze-san shouldn't you be at the training grounds by now." He said still looking up. Kushina was surprised. "Would you care to tell me why you are searching for me?"

"How did you know?"

"Unfortunately for you, I have no obligation to answer that." he replied simply, Kushina felt slightly offended.

"Kushina!" Tsunade called out, just when she had opened her mouth to say something.

"Tsunade, what's wrong?" Kushina asked as Tsunade walked over to her.

"I've been looking all over for you! Training started half an hour ago, Minato was almost about to panic. What are you doing all the way here?" Kushina giggled at her antics, but believed her about Minato. Ever since the incident sixteen years ago, he had become a bit more protective about losing her.

"I was just … talking." She said as she looked up, only to find no one there. Tsunade looked at her, still waiting for an explaination. She just smiled at her and shook her head. "Nevermind, it's nothing."

Tsunade felt confused but decided to just let it go.

"Come on, let's go, before Minato comes looking for us." She nodded and they ran off towards the training grounds.

*~*Kasai*~*

Up in the sky, standing amongst the clouds, stood Kasai and Tento.

"Sai-chan you can't avoid it anymore, you knew that once your path crosses with Konoha again. And it will continue to cross with theirs until you have fulfilled the destiny, the gods have bestowed upon you."

"Tento, sometimes I think that the gods ask too much of me. They destine me the duty to bring peace to this world, when it was to be my father's destiny."

"It is true that your destiny was to be your father's, but the last choice he made was unworthy of his destiny. If you had chosen a different path to follow, his choice would've only caused unrepairable damage to this world." Kasai sighed.

"There are many nights that I wonder if I had chosen a different path to follow, or if there was another path created. I've had dreams of those thoughts, some were pleasant and some a nightmare. But I don't regret going down this path, though my doubts I still believe this was the right path."

"You have wisdom far beyond your years. You make us wolves proud to have chosen you for our summoner." He looked at the wolf and smiled.

"Thanks Tento." He knelt down and hugged his wolf companion. "You've always stayed by my side no matter what."

"Come on kid, we gotta head off to the training grounds." The wolf smiled. Kasai stood back up and ran towards the training grounds with Tento running beside him.

~*~Sunagakure's Training Grounds~*~

Kushina and Tsunade had arrived at the training grounds to see, all of the sand, stone and leaf nin separated into different elemental groups.

Kakashi was the trainer for lighting, Asuma for wind, Jiraya for fire, Yamato for earth and Yuuago for water.

"We have to go into our specialized element and try to improve our element techniques for five days. Then we have hand to hand combat training for the next five, after that everyone will either be given light medical training or be improving their medical skills. Then for another five days we will be trained some war skills and strategies. Lastly we will be given a break for the last three days and we'll be briefed the night before the war." Tsunade explained to Kushina.

"Kushina!" Minato called after Kushina, she turned around to see Minato running to her.

"Minato!" Kushina called back.

"Kushina please don't go anywhere without telling me first. I'm sure Tsunade-sama has already told you our training schedule." She simply nodded. "I'll be training with Garra-san and Bee-san, in training ground four. If you need anything, I'll be there." She smiled at him, as he headed off towards the other training grounds.

*~*Minato*~*

Kasai and his group arrived just a few seconds after I arrived. He stared at me, his hatred clear in his eyes. Mizuko stepped in front of him, she touched his face gently. He looked to her, I could see him slightly relax, but he still had his guard up.

I went up to Garra-san and Bee-san who were waiting for us in the middle of the grounds.

"Sorry for making you wait Garra-san, Bee-san." Garra just simply nodded at me.

"Kasai-sama will be training Bee-san in the other training grounds." Garra said posing it as a question to Mizuko, because Kasai was too busy talking to the wolf beside him.

"Yes, I suggest that you and the fourth hokage train each other during the next ten days. Kori will be joining your training." We both nodded in understanding.

The days passed, on the tenth day Kasai, Mizuko and Bee-san stayed and observed our training progress. We were going against Kori, two to one. It had taken us six whole days to finally be on par with him.

"Kori." Kasai said softly, we immediately stopped as Kori walked over to Kasai. "Mizuko."

She walked forward to us, and nodded to Kori as she passed him.

"Let's see how you will do against her. Mizuko, simple and easy."

Garra-san and I just stood there, waiting, observing, until finally she moved forward. We got into our stances reading ourselves. She smirked at us, one second she was there, and then a second later she had appeared behind us.

Before we even had a chance to turn around, we were already flying backwards from her attack. She ran up to us, but this time we were ready. I pulled back to punch her but she easily blocked it while she punched Garra-san in the stomach. We stopped flying backwards and faced her.

I did some hand seals, and took a deep breath. "Katon Gyokaku no Jutsu!" we quickly took advantage of her distraction and threw a barricade of shurikens and kunais, cornering her in all directions. Then suddenly a tornado appeared around her, throwing back the shurikens and kunais, we used our arms to block our faces. When we looked up she was just standing there, I looked into her eyes, her eyes changed colour. Then I could see my reflection in her eyes, suddenly everything around me changed, I saw Naruto in front of me.

He was getting attacked, I tried to run to him but I couldn't, my body wouldn't move at all.

"This is the outcome of the decision that you made." I could hear Kasai's voice; his voice was so clear and so full of hate.

They drowned him, while he cried for help, but they just laughed and smiled, like they were watching a sick comedy show. I looked away, as I saw them burning him slowly.

"You will watch the outcome of your mistake! Watch the pain that you had put upon your own flesh and blood! Watch him and listen to the names he cries out." Kasai shouted, I looked back to see them pushing his head back into the water.

I dropped to my knees, and tried to reach out for him. They had finally stopped drowning him and started pouring oil on him, as he lay down on the ground. He looked so tired; his eyes barely stayed open.

"Mommy. Daddy. Mommy. Daddy." I could hear him whisper softly over and over again, as they prepared to burn him to death. Tears fell from my eyes.

"Naruto, Naruto. I'm so sorry." The scene suddenly changed, Naruto was laying down on the forest ground, I could see the nine tail chakra surrounding him.

"Mizuko." Kasai said, and then everything went back to the training grounds. Mizuko was standing in front of me at a distance. Garra-san and Bee-san showed no emotion on their faces, Kori walked beside Kasai, as he turned to leave.

"That's the reason why they killed him, because of the bijuu inside him. Is that why they killed my child, because of that monster." I said to no one, Kasai stopped walking.

"The one you should be calling a monster is you and the village you protect. If anything, you should be thankful to the nine tails." I looked up to him. "The nine tails was the one who brought Naruto to the forest, so that he could at least die on peaceful grounds. The nine tails could understand Naruto's pain and he would be the one, who would talk to Naruto and make him feel that he wasn't alone."

*~*Third person*~*

And with that they all just left, Mizuko nodded to Garra and turned to leave.

"Was that really necessary?" Garra asked Mizuko just as she was about to run after them. She turned back to face him.

"He needed to know the consequences of his choice. He needed to see the pain he caused. This will be Konoha's final test; everything will be decided on his choice. Will he try to change the people, and believe in them to change? Or will he turn against them and destroy the people he had sworn to protect? His choice will be Konoha's choice, and it will decide Konoha's fate." Mizuko replied.

After she left, Garra used his sand to carry Minato. The moon had already risen, when he arrived to place where all of the konoha nin were staying at.

Kushina opened the door to see Minato wrapped around Garra's sand.

"Minato!" she reached for him, checking what was wrong. "What happened?" she asked Garra.

"Kasai-sama showed him some of Naruto's final moments; he just needs time to think about some things." Garra replied, and then he just walked away, leaving Kushina to help her husband inside.

The day passed, Minato managed to recover from his thoughts and was helping with the preparations. At the end of the briefing Kasai approached Minato.

"So have you come to a decision?" Kasai asked Minato, as he was walking out the room, with Kushina and Jiraya.

"I haven't completely, I've decided to wait and see if my village can change itself, without the help of anyone but themselves." Minato answered, looking up at the sky.

"In some cases your choice would have been a wise or a foolish one. In this case you are a fool, after this battle you will have one year to come and find me. And in one year's time, I will give Konoha's final test, to see if they deserve peace." then he just left, Minato, Kushina and Jiraya just stared at the place where he stood.

"Minato what are you going to do?" Kushina asked softly.

"I think that you should take his offer, Konoha has already begun its downfall. I believe with the assistant of Makikaze Kasai, we'll be able to stop that." Jiraya said placing his hand on Minato's shoulder.

"How can you be so sure, that he isn't there to act on his hatred on Konoha?" Minato replied.

"He wouldn't do that." Mizuko said from behind them. They all turn around quickly to see her standing there, Kori beside her.

"What makes you say that? Hardly anyone knows anything about you, how can we trust you without knowing you? For all we know you might be just some kids, who haven't even experienced the pain of loss." Minato asked, annoyed by the choice they put on him.

"Do you really think that a man like Kasai can become the way he is without experiencing loss?" Mizuko asked angrily.

"When we were young none of us had parents or an adult to look after us. All we had was each other, and at the time we also had Nao. We weren't related, but Nao looked after us like a big brother would. Kasai and I were only four at the time; we were just playing around in the forest, when a mist ninja suddenly came up behind us. He just grabbed Kori and started to hit him, just so he could cool down from his frustrations. Nao managed to grab Kori back and told us to run. When we wouldn't leave him, he chose to use his body to protect us from the man's attacks. He died from the stab wounds, a few hours later. And yet even after that, the Mist village was the first village he chose to change."

"Konoha this is the last chance Kasai has given you, after Tento's hard efforts (if you don't get it, Tento has been trying to persuade Kasai to give Konoha another chance). Do not waste it." Kori said finally speaking up.

*~*Time skip*~*

That night Minato thought about their words, soon his thoughts led him to the battle tomorrow. Hoping that more answers can be revealed.

Author's Note:

Heys

Sorry for taking so long, but school has already started and I'll only be able to update at least once a month. Sorry if I disappointed anyone.

Hope you liked this chapter. Please review!  
>Thank you for reading!<p>

JoJo8


	5. Chapter 5: War with Unwanted Visitors

The day of the battle had finally arrived, ninjas surrounded the village walls. Teams posted at every gate, medical nins preparing themselves for what they might have to face.

A sensor nin turned to the small rustling in the bushes (there's a forest kind of near the sand), he signalled everyone to get ready. Everything went silent as a huge wind blew past; a single leaf touched the ground before an army of ninjas emerged from the trees.

"Everyone prepare yourselves!" Temari shouted, they all tensed waiting for her signal. "Wind users, Now!" she shouted once they were close to the borders.

The wind users then used their techniques to kill off their first few lines of defence.

"Kiri kiri mai!" Temari shouted unleashing her own technique, at the same time Asuma was using his knifes to make wind slashes.

Once Temari's technique stopped, they all came charging at each other. While the battle went on, Tsunade, Sakura, Kushina and the medical nin were busy tending to the wounded.

Bee and the stone nin were defending the western gate, Garra was defending the southern gate, Temari and Kankuro defending the northern gate, while Minato and the konoha nins were defending the eastern gate.

As the battle dragged on, Kasai, Mizuko and Kori stood idly in skies, watching the battle unfold.

"Kasai, there are still a few hiding." Mizuko said calmly, looking straight ahead.

"Yes, I know, they will appear once the sand becomes significantly weaker. That's when they'll use the battle as a diversion to capture Garra."

"What about Bee?" Kori asked.

"They're not strong enough to do that, that's why they're using the battle as a diversion."

"So what do we do?"

"We wait." Kasai answered simply.

*~*Eastern Gate*~*

"Minato what do we do? We're getting pushed back!" Shikaku asked as he finished off his opponent.

"We need to try and hold them back for as long as we can." Minato replied.

"There's too many of them, it's like there's thousands of them!" Sasuke shouted.

"Ugh, where in the hell did that Kasai guy go?! So much for helping!" Ino yelled in frustration, as she knocked out her opponent.

*~*Kasai*~*

Even amongst the chaos, Kasai remained motionless; his eyes closed but his expression thoughtful.

"There's some of them still hiding." Mizuko said as she was about to go to investigate but was stopped when Kasai began to speak.

"Kori, Tento I need you to keep a watch on Gaara and Bee, we don't need any more cause for lost lives." They both nodded in understanding. "Mizuko, I need you to give a little support to the eastern gate." They all looked to Kasai in surprise and confusion.

"Sai?"

Kasai sighed. "I still have debt, which still needs to be repaid." Kori and Tento simply nodded and left.

Mizuko stared carefully at Kasai, and said "understood" before leaving.

Kasai continued to stare out into the forest, uncertainty shown on his face.

'_Hey kid, you thinking what I'm thinking?' _

'_That the beings lurking in that forest aren't human?'_

'_Heh, my thoughts exactly.'_

'_The ones that Mizuko sensed earlier have already fled once they sensed them; it seems that the elder one knows when a battle is lost before it even begins.'_

'_They must be strong, for you not to even consider your misses or the brat after it. You didn't even let Tento check them out.'_

'_Mizuko and Kori haven't spent enough time in the other world, to know how to deal with these guys.'_

'_Your choice, but you better let me outta here once they come; I haven't gotten a good exercise in ages. I don't care who's here, if you don't let me out, I'll force my way out.'_

'_Fine but don't overdo it, we came here to help them protect their village not to crush it down to crumbs.'_

'_Deal, as long as I get outta here, your anger has been dulling the place.'_

Kasai sighed and shook his head in disbelief.

*~*Eastern Gate*~*

Minato was surrounded by all sides, his opponents inching closer and closer to him; until a huge gush of wind pushed them all down.

"You all need to stop focusing on your defence and put all of your focus on your offence." Mizuko said as Minato turned around to see her.

"For that to happen, someone would have to unleash an attack effective enough against numbers to create an opening. As you can see all the people capable to pull of such an attack have been constantly been surrounded. None of us have the opportunity too, even if one of us did, this battle has dragged on for too long that all of us don't have enough chakra to do it. I don't even have enough chakra to shunshin." Minato explained as he fended off another opponent.

"No." she replied simply. Minato looked at her in confusion.

"No?" he replied confused at her meaning.

"You can't do your shunshin technique because of chakra depletion. You can't do it because the technique hasn't been returned to you from the other world."

"How did you-?"

"We know more than you can ever comprehend, we observe things that you wouldn't ever think of noticing. But enough small talk. I'll create an opening for you so make sure all of your ninja's are ready." Minato simply nodded then made a gesture to Shikaku, who had been roughly listening to their conversation. Shikaku moved closer to Inochi to relay the message.

*~*Kori and Tento*~*

Kori and Tento stood above between the western and southern gate, keeping a close eye on their charge.

"Tento what do you think is really going on?" Kori asked, not even turning to look at him. "There is something suspicious about his timing, there is a reason why he chose to speak just when Mizuko- nee was about to go to the forest."

"I don't know, but I think it is best if we prepare ourselves for anything." Tento and Kori took a quick scan of their surroundings before looking back at their charge. "There is a reason why he chose to put some distance between us; he didn't need to send us to keep watch, when he could do it himself. There must've been something he had sensed, something that we couldn't"

"If it was something that we couldn't sense, then that means whatever Kasai-nii had sensed, it is much powerful than us to be able to mask their presence. Then that would be something to fear, the casualties that could come from a battle between it and Kasai-nii would be disastrous."

"I fear the same, but then what I fear most is the extents Sai-chan would go to in order to prevent that. There is always much more fear for a man who does not value himself for himself." Tento said taking a quick glance at Kasai.

Kori had said nothing in reply, but understood and feared Tento's words.

*~*Kasai*~*

Kasai stood still, in the middle of the sand village, his hands formed in the release sign. His expression slightly scrunched up in concentration.

'_Hey kid, you know they'll hate you for doing this.'_

'_I don't care; I refuse to be the cause for any more casualties.'_

'_Your choice, but don't say I didn't warn you. It's your head that's going to be torn off by your misses.'_

'_I would much rather have her get angry at me later than to have her in harm's way.'_

*~*Mizuko, Kori & Tento*~*

Just as Mizuko was about to unleash her attack, all three of them suddenly turned to Kasai, sensing the strong release of chakra.

The chakra began to fall on them like snow, then all at once all of the sound ninjas were suddenly pushed back far beyond the borders of the sand village. A dome quickly enveloped the whole village and everyone within its borders, all except for Kasai.

Mizuko immediately went up to the highest centre of the dome, where Kasai was standing over, she tried to get to him and break or slip through the dome; but it still wouldn't budge.

Kori and Tento soon followed to where Mizuko was, once she started unleashing some of her strongest attacks.

"Mizuko-nee enough, you already know that none of us can break through this dome." Kori said firmly and calmly to his sister. "After the many times we've been put in this dome, you should know that fact well enough."

"I don't care! I won't let Sai risk his life again! Over and over, again and again, he puts his life on the line and keeps putting himself on the battlefield alone." Mizuko shouted angrily with a twinge of resentment, while she continuously unleashed numerous attacks on the dome.

"Mizuko stop this idiocy, to protect us is not the only reason Kasai would put up this dome. He puts up this dome so that he could also protect himself from having the burden that everyone else is in harm's way." Tento said sternly which caused Mizuko to stop and turn to face him.

"Don't you think I know that?" she asked rhetorically. "But I refuse to stand here and watch him fight all on his own."

"You will simply be a burden onto him if you leave this dome, the least you can do stay here and help heal the wounded." Kori said calmly but commandingly to his sister, Mizuko simply stopped and reluctantly accepted his judgement.

All three of them lowered themselves down to the ground centre of the village, where Garra, Kankuro, Temari, Bee and all the Konoha nin waited to meet them.

"What is happening?" Garra asked as Mizuko landed on the ground.

"It seems Kasai has sensed something hidden somewhere, something that is both strong and dangerous; which is the reason for the dome." Tento answered for Mizuko. "The battle is over now, rest assured; Sai-chan had pushed all of the sound nin far beyond the borders of the village."

Everyone sighed with relief at the news but most of them knew that there was still cause for worry.

"For now, we should start healing the wounded inside the shelters. The rest of them should have no need for worry." Mizuko said. "Kasai's chakra that fell should have already begun the healing process on everyone who touched it, without them even noticing it.

"Ah! She's right, my wounds are already healing." Ino exclaimed as everyone else begun to check their injuries.

"Tento, we should begin with the usual routine." Kori pointed out to Tento, over everyone else's exclamations.

"You're right; the rest of the wolves should have already set up the perimeter. I'll go join them soon enough, while Kori you'll be guarding above and Mizuko you'll be in charge of helping heal the wounded." They all nodded in agreement all the while ignoring the others of the party.

"What do you need us to do?" Garra asked.

"Get all of your available medical nin to help in the shelters, all the others should just follow simple protocol. Just make sure no one gets in the way of any of the wolves on the perimeter." Garra simply nodded and started to give out the orders to the all of the nins.

Soon everyone began to follow the usual protocol and move to their respective duties; all the while the centre group still kept a cautious eye on Kasai, waiting for what is predicted to come.

*~*Kasai*~*

Kasai looked out into the forest, keeping a cautious eye on the strangers.

'_They must be messengers or minions of the elemental gods.'_

'_Oh? What makes you say that?'_

'_They've made no move to harm any humans since their arrival, and have been waiting for me to place the chakra dome.'_

'_Then what are they waiting for now?'_

'_The signal; I can sense their arrogance, they believe that they hold much more power over me but are still wise enough not to underestimate. So they're refusing to make the first move.'_

'_Remember kid, once that signal sounds; I'm getting out of here.'_

'_I know, just be patient.'_

Kasai continued to watch the strangers in the forest cautiously, he could sense they were getting restless as they began gathering up their chakra. Kasai could make out their basic appearances; both of them were tall, but had significant differences in muscular mass. One of them was bulky and had a chained iron spiked ball tied around his hip. The other one was much lankier and simply had two plain swords strapped to his back.

'_We must be cautious with these opponents; they are not simply any kind of minions. Their weapons are made from their own chakra and won't be easily broken. This means that they're of high standing, which means they didn't come here of their own will, they were sent.'_

'_For what purpose could the gods have to send these guys?'_

'_To give me a warning for future times, but such a warning won't be given easily without a challenge and a sacrifice.' _Kasai thought angrily at the forced circumstances.

A harsh wind blew; a single leaf was blown around with it and lowered as the wind softened. Once the leaf touched the ground Kasai began forming a series of hand signs in a rapid speed, as two figures shot out of the forest towards him.

As they drew closer, a spiral sun-like seal appeared in Kasai's right eye, once he had finished his hand signs; he grabbed onto the upper right side of his face and with a slight twist, the Kyuubi emerged from his eye.

The Kyuubi quickly lashed onto his opponents with a harsh growl, causing them to jump back. All motions within the dome had stopped; all Konoha nin looked up in complete disbelief.

Author's Note:

I would first like to start off with a very very very big SORRY for my extremely late update -_-ll

And an extremely big THANK YOU to all the people who have read, favourite, followed and reviewed my story despite my in-activity.

Thank you so very much for the support and I promise to try my very best to get updates in much faster.

I do still want to continue this story, just some annoying issues that keep getting in my way.

I know this chapter sounds a little bit different to my usual writing, so please forgive me; it has been a while since I wrote my last chapter. And I've been going on and off when I was writing up this one.

Again, Thank you for the support and I hope you liked this chapter.

Thank you for reading this chapter.

Jojo8


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